


Bear Necessities

by Anonymous



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Caretaking, Gen, Protective Dean Winchester, Transformation, Worried Dean Winchester, curse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-19
Updated: 2019-10-19
Packaged: 2020-12-24 05:27:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21094142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: The sorcerers might have been amateurs, but now Dean has to find out how to take care of three small black bears for twenty four hours until the curse wears off and he gets his brother, his angel, and their kid back to how they’re supposed to be.





	Bear Necessities

“I know,” Dean says, then yelps as one of them, probably Sam, nips at his fingers. “Fuck, don’t, I don’t have a better idea, right now, okay?”

And he doesn’t. With a group of dead wannabe sorcerers in the old shack behind him, and the local law enforcement probably on the way, he’s low on time and just as low on options, so this, just then, is the best he’s got.

At least he was able to find a box and not a sack, or something, but Cas (Dean can pick him out because he’s the middle sized one, and there are flared slightly darker colour patches on his back that look like wings) was the only one who let Dean put him in without struggle or complaint.

Jack whined, but then cuddled up to Cas and shut his eyes like he just wanted the whole thing to be over, but Sam’s being a judgemental little shit, and Dean’s tempted to tweak one of those cute little ears of his.

He doesn’t. Instead he sets the box down on the back seat, warns all of them to stay in it and then jumps in the driving seat to get them the hell out of there.

++

“Bears.”

Dean thinks about rapping the phone on the table just to make sure it’s working.

“Yeah, bears, like I said.” He tries to keep the irritation out of his voice, but Cas looked away for a second and Jack’s trying to clamber out of the box, and Dean’s currently got one foot under him trying to gently nudge him back in. “Three small, black bears.”

Rowena goes silent for a moment, and Dean figures she’s muted him while she laughs her ass off. She’s back before he has time to call her out on it (not that he would; he needs her help and she can be prickly when the mood takes her).

“Samuel too? All three of them?”

Dean’s wondering if too much magic use affects your comprehension because he’s already told her it’s all three of them. “Yeah. How do I change them back?”

She has him describe, again, the room and the ritual and the words he can remember, and then she sighs at him.

That’s never a good sign.

“I’m afraid, Dean, you’ll need to wait for it to wear off. Which shouldn’t be more than a day - I don’t think amateurs could build a spell with more staying power than that.”

A day? Dean stares down at the box. Cas has gently, but firmly, got his teeth into Jack’s scruff and tugged him down from his escape attempt, and herded him into a corner where the kid almost looks like he’s sulking.

Sam, on the other hand, is now out of the box and glaring up at Dean as if he’s demanding to get the phone and speak to Rowena himself.

“You can’t,” Dean says down to him. “You don’t have any hands. And you can’t...English.”

“Excuse me?”

Fuck. “No, not you, it’s Sam, he’s…”

Rowena chuckles. “It sounds like they’re very much themselves, which should make it easier for you, Dean. They’ll be more cooperative, anyway.”

Dean feels like asking Rowena if she’s met his brother, their angel and their kid, but she’s gone before he can say anything else, leaving him looking from his phone down to where Sam’s pawing at his boot to get his attention.

“What?”

Sam huffs at him, licks his chops, looks back to the box and then back to Dean.

Right. He tucks his phone into his pocket, and reaches down to scoop Sam up, only to have his brother dart out of the way, and snarl at him.

Or at least try to, but it comes out like a low, grumpy rumble, and Dean can’t help it.

Situation aside, that’s the cutest shit ever, and the affronted look on Sam’s face doesn’t help him stave off the chuckles.

Sam fraying the leg of his jeans does, and then like it or not he does dump his brother back in the box before picking up the whole damn thing, with its precious contents, and carrying them into the kitchen.

++

Sam probably knows off the top of his head what to feed small black bears, but Dean’s wealth of knowledge and expertise is on _useful_ things like when ghouls are most active, the best spells to use to counteract revenge curses and the best angle for chopping a vampire’s head off.

So he hits up Google on his phone, reading one handed while he dumps three soup bowls on the ground and pours water from a jug into each.

He isn’t surprised when Cas doesn’t drink, but he does nudge Jack towards the bowls and the kid busily laps up the liquid leaving his snout damp and dripping.

Sam looks at the bowl with disdain.

“What? You want Perrier, ice and some lemon? A straw?”

At least the food should be easier - their dietary requirement sounds like shit Sam eats on a normal day (except maybe the grubs).

He ends up finding some tinned fish at the cupboard, in date, and divides it up between three small plates, and sets them down.

Cas, again, doesn’t partake, so Dean ends up splitting his portion between Jack and Sam, whose grumbling tummy seems to have pushed aside his dissatisfaction with the dining arrangements.

Dean slumps down into a chair and watches them eat, until Cas pads over to him and pats at his leg.

Dean looks down at him, figures what the hell, and scoops the angel-bear up before settling him in his lap.

Cas looks at him, tucks his head to one side, and then gets onto his hind legs before gently resting one paw against his shoulder.

Dean pets him, a little awkwardly, but appreciates the offer of comfort.

“It’ll be okay,” he says, and hopes Rowena doesn’t make a liar out of him.

Cas nods, and then turns around so he can sit down and keep an eye on Jack and Sam.

++

Dean locks the bunker down after that, because he has enough on his hands without having to worry about any unwanted guests.

And because like this...his family are vulnerable, and he isn’t taking any chances on _another_ situation developing which he can’t control and which he can’t protect them from.

He does find a sturdier crate to hold them, instead of the box, and lines it with a folded up blanket so it’s warmer and comfier for the three of them.

That just leaves how to spend the next twenty or so hours. He can tell the three of them are still _them_, just now stuck as bears, so he figures that means no extra special precautions like trying to keep them out of bleach and shit, but it does mean finding how to while away the next few hours.

Initially that doesn’t seem like it’s going to be a problem.

As soon as the baby bears are settled - Sam giving him a glare at the new accommodation before letting Dean put him in - he can see Jack start to droop.

Cas nudges him, as if in reassurance, and it isn’t long before their kid is curled up and sound asleep.

Dean can see Sam fighting it, but he doesn’t have the same resilience like this that he does as a six foot four man, and Dean feels something clench inside him when Cas pads over and nudges Sam too, getting him onto his side, and then nuzzling him until he seems to settle and surrender.

That just leaves Cas himself.

Dean has the box sitting at the bottom of the bed, and he lifts Cas out, settles against the headboard, and rests the bear on his lap.

“Fuck our lives, huh.”

Cas makes a small growly noise which Dean takes to be an agreement. And then he climbs carefully up Dean until his head is tucked under Dean’s chin, and butts him lightly.

Dean frowns, but then Cas reaches up to nuzzle him too, and he gets it.

“I’m okay, I’ll sleep when you guys are back to normal.”

It’s amazing he can read them so well like this, because there’s no doubt the look Cas gives him tells him plainly that they are all safe, and he, Dean, needs rest too.

He knows Cas is right, on both counts, and it was a hell of a drive home, trying to keep anybody from seeing he had three small black bears in his car in case he got pulled over and arrested for wildlife kidnap or something.

And the adrenaline that kept him going is fading now, and he knows that, once again, Cas will keep watch over him while he sleeps.

Something he once fought, out of pride, and the need to be the one protecting his family, he accepts now, lets Cas share that duty because this is his family too.

He holds the angel steady as he slides down a little, getting comfy, and that’s how he falls asleep, Cas lying comfortably on his lap, Dean’s hand resting on his back.

He wakes up hours later to find Jack and Sam tucked up warm and sound on either side of him, and lies there for a while just watching them.

They’ll be okay, and he glances at his clock on the night table.

Twelve hours to go.


End file.
